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American Air Museum incorrect. Baugher correct.Baugher North American P-51D-20-NA 44-72253 (354th FS, 355th FG, 8th AF) collided in midair with P-51D 44-14346 and crashed in England Jun 2,1944. Pilot survived, but aircraft was destroyed.
Jane VI Big Gas Bird picture 44-72253 | American Air Museum
Thats why i like this board. Thank you.American Air Museum incorrect. Baugher correct.
When my father traded 253 for 953 after April 13th mission, WR-B was recoded to WR-L.
Mills was assigned P-51K WR-L 44-11759 Big Gas Bird, which was destroyed by flak on 4-04-1945 McDonell KIA. Shown is Mills and clear K AeroP prop. Aslo shown is dad's WR-B JANE VI 44-72253
My father was leading 354FS (as Red flight leader), had just shot down 2 109s, hit the third one hard, and chasing it streaming coolant on the deck, 'when all hell broke loose'. Flak batteries opened up - hitting Rafferty.North American P-51B-15-NA 42-106950, WR-P, (355th FG, 354th FS, " Iowa Beaut ") shot down by flak near Rechtenbach Sep 11, 1944. MACR 8676. Pilot KIA 11-09-1944 Monday
Macr 8676 Captain Rafferty's squadron was attached to escort duty with the B-24s that hit Magdeburg that day. On the return trip from the target, he was likely hit by Flak near Marburg. Missing Aircraft Crew Report 44-8676 was subsequently filed. Another pilot in the 355th wrote in the report:
"At about 1225 in the vicinity of Marburg Red Flight bounced at least 2-Me109's. In the break Captain Rafferty fell into number Four position. Red Flight chased the 109s over Marburg in trail. WR-P was flying nearly abreast of me and when my ship was hit I broke left while WR-P broke right. That was the last time that I saw him. I passed a P-51 headed East later but couldn't identify due to the fuselage being covered with oil. I heard a P-51 pilot calling for assistance but he didn't identify himself or gave location. I never saw him."
Captain Kevin Rafferty, USAAF, hailed from Fairfield County, Connecticutt, and was 29 years old at the time of his death. He had only been overseas a few months when his aircraft went missing, and is buried in the Ardennes American Cemetery in Neupre, Belgium. He is also commemorated on the Steeple Morden 355th Fighter Group War Captain Kevin G. Rafferty, USAAF
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WWII Original Photo US Military Aircraft P-51 Mustang | eBay
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And nice, new, GLOSSY olive drab in the painted over invasion stripes on the upper wings/fuselage!My father was leading 354FS (as Red flight leader), had just shot down 2 109s, hit the third one hard, and chasing it streaming coolant on the deck, 'when all hell broke loose'. Flak batteries opened up - hitting Rafferty.
The target, stated above, was not Magdeburg. The 2nd BD went to Misburg/Hanover refineries, The 1st and 3rd BD went to Magdeburg/Merseburg area targets between Berin and Leipzig. The 355th engaged down in Marburg general area. Dan Case made a pretty neat video about this mission some time ago.
The picture above is of Lee Mendenhall slow timing new engine in WRP Iowa Beaut (assigned to Hulderman. It is intresting (to me) that the old name"Man O'War' was replaced when Kinnard traded his WR-A 42-106950 for WR-A 44-13305 just before D-Day - but Hulderman never took Kinnard's victory credits off.
I felt that this image was very representative of the "P-51B Mustang: North American's Bastard Stepchild that Saved 8th AF", enough that I chose this one for the cover art.
The IWM has significantly more Mustang photos than what they have searchable and findable on their online searches. Over a period of years as their website and online presence has grown, and they have gotten into the digitisation of the different parts of their collection eg documents, film, photos, maps, etc they have gradually increased the number of objects that can be found in searches of their online collection. A few years ago, an online search of the IWM website would produce just over 1,000 photos using the search term "Mustang". Currently it is sitting close to 1,900 for WW2 specific "Mustang" photos with a digital copy viewable online. They also appear to have a policy of periodically rotating out some photos that maybe not getting as many views or that have been available for a significant period, and replacing them with photos that have more recently been digitised. The limitation on the total number of photos made available online for viewing on their website over time is likely to be based on the capacity of their website infrastructure and some policy decision on just how much they will put online. There are still, large significant 'chunks' of the IWM photo archive that have not yet been digitised and it is a major project for them to get older and at risk negatives and prints in their collection digitised and preserved first, especially pre-WW2 photography, film, documents, etc, or items on media known to deteriorate or become unstable in a shorter timeframe - shutdowns over the past few years didn't help that project. The other issue that they have is that the information attached to some of their photos, based off original period captions or other information, can in some cases be incorrect or misleading. I've found instances where due to errors at the time the original photos were taken or when they were originally catalogued, the wrong names have been given for people, locations or subjects - not discounting the effects of wartime security and original information provided with photos etc being somewhat vague on purpose for security reasons.If you want to go direct to the source for IWM Mustang photos you can use this:
Keep 'em flying!incidental double exposure i think fitting for a good book. Great picture
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Original P-51 Mustang Photograph (Army Examiner Stamp) | eBay
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Anyone know the (possible) serial number of this a/c?Malcolm hood G-WR ?
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* LOT 3 * ORIGINAL P-51 Mustangs PHOTOGRAPHS WORLD WAR 2 * 4 total * | eBay
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43-6457Anyone know the (possible) serial number of this a/c?